Just a Snowy Day
by DragonJ
Summary: It's snowing in Konoha, and Temari wants to have some fun. [Very light ShikaTema, oneshot]


A/N: For the contest over at the ShikaTema FC at NarutoFan.

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Normally, Shikamaru didn't mind guard duty. It was a great time to doze off, ponder the mysteries of life quietly, and engage in his favorite activity: watching the puffy white clouds chasing each other across the clear blue sky.

But today, he had no such luck. The sky was bleak and gray, a blanket of snow covered the village, the dark storm clouds were flat and motionless, and Shikamaru was starting to realize just how soul-crushingly _boring_ guard duty was. He groaned and muttered to himself.

"Bored bored bored…"

He groaned again. He definitely knew he was bored when he started to unnecessarily expend energy. The chunin considered walking back to his house to get a book, a deck of cards – anything to alleviate his boredom. He was just about to get up when something wet and cold smacked into his forehead. Shikamaru's eyes closed instinctively as his brain whirred in consternation.

_Enemy attack! They got me… I should have been more careful… why did I get myself into as something as troublesome as guard duty? All I wanted was an average life with an average wife, two kids - a girl and a…_

His train of thought was rather rudely interrupted when the functioning part of his brain informed him that he wasn't, in fact, dead. Shikamaru's eyebrows wandered around his head confusedly as he processed this new information.

"_You're very annoyed,"_ his brain remarked helpfully, _"at the snowball currently plastered to your forehead."_

Shikamaru's cranium finally clicked and he sprang to the side, barely avoiding another icy projectile. He quickly calculated the trajectory and glanced in the direction it should have come from. His eyes settled upon a familiar figure (although not much of her figure was visible beneath the layers of parkas and sweaters she was wearing). He groaned. Why her?

"Temari… I'm on guard duty."

He flattened himself as a snowball rocketed over his head. Temari laughed at him.

"Come on! There's no one here anyways. We never have any snow in Suna… let me have my fun!"

Shikamaru winced as a snowball splattered to the ground a few inches from him. "I'm your guide, not your target practice! And what if someone gets in while I'm distracted?"

He rolled to the side as two more snowballs flew at him. Temari smirked at the snow-covered chunin.

"Ok, tell you what crybaby. If any enemies attack, I'll protect you from them."

Shikamaru ground his teeth. She was _really_ getting on his nerves. He picked up a lump of snow and morosely lobbed it at her. It fell apart in midair and scattered before even getting within ten feet of Temari.

"There, happy now?"

Her answer came in the form of a snowball aimed at his head. He yelped and flattened himself against the ground again. Temari's smirk deepened as she needled him some more.

"Come on, crybaby, are you giving up again?"

Shikamaru grumbled to himself as he scanned the environment, watching warily for more snowy missiles. Temari stood a few feet away from the edge of the white-blanketed Konoha forest, and quite a distance from him. He picked himself up off the ground, dusting snow from his chunin vest, and grinned at the Suna kunoichi.

"Fine, fine… a man can't lose to a woman, whether it's at ninjutsu or at a snowball fight."

Temari scowled at him. "There you are going on about that man and woman crap again. Don't you ever learn?"

She laughed as a snowball piffed to the ground at her feet. "You can't even throw a snowball as far as me!"

The kunoichi leapt backwards as Shikamaru ran at her, unleashing a flurry of snowballs. All of them landed a few inches sort of their target. Temari counterattacked with two snowballs thrown at Shikamaru's midsection, but he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a log appearing in his place.

Temari winced and dodged backwards again as Shikamaru appeared in front of her, hurling a barrage of icy spheres. She scooped up some snow and flung it at him, causing him to jump behind a tree. The snowballs impacted into the tree trunk with a series of wet thuds. Temari laughed.

"Hiding again?"

Shikamaru leaned out from behind the tree and chucked a few snowballs at Temari, then ducked behind the thick trunk again to avoid her counterattack.

"No, just attacking from a strategic location."

Temari grinned.

"Well, two can play at that game."

She slid behind her own tree as Shikamaru missed with a flurry of snowballs. The kunoichi sneered as they impacted near the base of the tree trunk she was standing at.

"Your range is so short, I don't even need to hide behind a tree!"

Shikamaru leaned out from behind his tree, grinned, wound up, and launched a speeding snowball in Temari's direction. She gasped at the speed of the snowy projectile and its change from Shikamaru's previously lackluster attempts.

_I shouldn't expect any less from Shikamaru… so he was tricking me all along with his range! Now if I…_

Temari grinned as she realized the path the snowball was on. It flew high and impacted the branch above her with a wet smack. She laughed at Shikamaru again.

_Looks like he could work on his aim though!_

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes wandered upwards, her mind slowly realizing the true purpose of Shikamaru's attack. The snow that had been packed on the tree branch was slowly falling… falling…

Temari's legs tensed up as she prepared to leap out of the way, but her eyes widened in horror as she realized she couldn't move – there was a shadow trailing out from behind Shikamaru's tree and attached to her own. She had time to utter one curse before the snow slid off the branch and fell on her with a wet _whumpf!_ noise.

Shikamaru sidled out from behind his tree and grinned at the four blonde ponytails sticking out of the snowdrift.

"You're right… this _is_ fun!"


End file.
